The problem.
I independently built the foundation’s website and operational tooling. The public identity needed to communicate its direction thoughtfully, while the underlying workflows needed to help staff manage enquiries and giving with clear records and controlled access.
Key decisions.
Save the enquiry before sending the email.
Enquiries are stored before notification is attempted. If email delivery fails, the message is still available to staff in the private inbox. The enquiry stays accessible even when its notification fails.
Verify before acknowledging.
Giving infrastructure verifies payments before recording success and sending acknowledgements. Transactional updates and duplicate-event handling support repeated webhook delivery; staff can retry failed or stalled acknowledgement emails.
Make readiness explicit.
Public forms, giving, recurring gifts, and event intake have separate readiness controls. Private staff access, consent records, and retention tooling are part of the implementation, with features activated according to the foundation’s readiness.
How it works.
- Typed content and an editorial, responsive public experience
- Database-first enquiries with a private staff inbox
- Magic-link staff authentication with allowlisted access
- Verified giving workflows and retryable acknowledgement delivery
- Consent, retention tooling, and controlled feature activation
Thoughtful delivery includes the quiet details: what happens when an email fails, who can access a record, and when a feature is ready to go live.